Formalization is becoming more common in all stages of the development of information systems, as a better understanding of its benefits emerges. Classification systems are ubiquitous, no more so than in domain modeling. The classification pattern that underlies these systems provides a good case study of the move toward formalization in part because it illustrates some of the barriers to formalization, including the formal complexity of the pattern and the ontological issues surrounding the “one and the many.” Powersets are a way of characterizing the (complex) formal structure of the classification pattern, and their formalization has been extensively studied in mathematics since Cantor’s work in the late nineteenth century. One can use this formalization to develop a useful benchmark. There are various communities within information systems engineering (ISE) that are gradually working toward a formalization of the classification pattern. However, for most of these communities, this work is incomplete, in that they have not yet arrived at a solution with the expressiveness of the powerset benchmark. This contrasts with the early smooth adoption of powerset by other information systems communities to, for example, formalize relations. One way of understanding the varying rates of adoption is recognizing that the different communities have different historical baggage. Many conceptual modeling communities emerged from work done on database design, and this creates hurdles to the adoption of the high level of expressiveness of powersets. Another relevant factor is that these communities also often feel, particularly in the case of domain modeling, a responsibility to explain the semantics of whatever formal structures they adopt. This paper aims to make sense of the formalization of the classification pattern in ISE and surveys its history through the literature, starting from the relevant theoretical works of the mathematical literature and gradually shifting focus to the ISE literature. The literature survey follows the evolution of ISE’s understanding of how to formalize the classification pattern. The various proposals are assessed using the classical example of classification; the Linnaean taxonomy formalized using powersets as a benchmark for formal expressiveness. The broad conclusion of the survey is that (1) the ISE community is currently in the early stages of the process of understanding how to formalize the classification pattern, particularly in the requirements for expressiveness exemplified by powersets, and (2) that there is an opportunity to intervene and speed up the process of adoption by clarifying this expressiveness. Given the central place that the classification pattern has in domain modeling, this intervention has the potential to lead to significant improvements.

中文翻译：

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分类模式的形式化：信息系统工程中分类建模的调查。

随着人们对形式化好处的深入了解，形式化在信息系统开发的各个阶段变得越来越普遍。分类系统无处不在，在领域建模中更是如此。这些系统背后的分类模式为走向形式化提供了一个很好的案例研究，部分原因是它说明了形式化的一些障碍，包括模式的形式复杂性以及围绕“一与多”的本体论问题。幂集是一种表征分类模式（复杂）形式结构的方法，自 19 世纪末康托尔的工作以来，它们的形式化在数学中得到了广泛的研究。人们可以使用这种形式化来开发一个有用的基准。信息系统工程 (ISE) 中的各个社区正在逐步致力于分类模式的形式化。然而，对于大多数社区来说，这项工作是不完整的，因为他们尚未找到具有 powerset 基准测试表现力的解决方案。这与其他信息系统社区早期顺利采用 powerset 来实现关系形式化等目的形成鲜明对比。理解不同采用率的一种方法是认识到不同的社区有不同的历史包袱。许多概念建模社区都是从数据库设计工作中产生的，这为采用高水平表达能力的幂集设置了障碍。另一个相关因素是，这些社区常常感到有责任解释他们采用的任何形式结构的语义，特别是在领域建模的情况下。本文旨在理解ISE分类模式的形式化，并通过文献回顾其历史，从数学文献的相关理论著作开始，逐渐将焦点转向ISE文献。文献调查遵循 ISE 对如何形式化分类模式的理解的演变。使用经典的分类示例来评估各种提案；林奈分类法使用幂集作为形式表达的基准进行形式化。调查的广泛结论是：(1) ISE 社区目前正处于了解如何形式化分类模式的早期阶段，特别是在幂集所例证的表达性要求方面，以及 (2)通过澄清这种表达方式来干预和加速采用过程的机会。鉴于分类模式在领域建模中的核心地位，这种干预有可能带来显着的改进。